284 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



"Spiraea callosa! wbat may that be?" cries some 

 ^ager reader. "I never heard of such a plant. I 

 know Spirseas, bnt they are not so very remarkable; 

 Spirasa aritefolia is now in flower, and it is pretty 

 enough, but not at all striking ; Spirjea Lindleyana is 

 no doubt a finer thing, but it is tender and rather 

 coarse, and white-flowered also ; but what can Spirtea 

 callosa be ? I never gaw it advertised ; I don't see it 

 in the nursery catalogues ; I have not seen it in my 

 late visits to the great nursery gardens near town. — 

 What can it be to be placed on such a pinnacle of 

 fame?" That all this is true we have no doubt; for 

 Spiraea callosa is not a novelty, nor an exhibition 

 plant ; nor a florist's flower. Its leaves are not 

 speckled and spotted, nor its flowers as red as a 

 Pffiony's, or as big as a Dahlia's. But it is a gem for 

 all that, when care is taken to cultivate it well 



Imagine a shrub about 4 feet high, and as much in 

 diameter, most gracefully branching from the gi-ound. 

 Let its slender shoots be dull red, and its simple leaves 

 a quiet green, such as the most fastidious artist would 

 select for a contrast with brighter colors. Then let 

 every branch burst out into spreading twiggs loaded 

 with tiay flowers arranged like those of a Laurustinus, 

 but more loosely, the youngest dull red and as large 

 as a pin, others more grown, with a vivid crimson 

 eentre, when the gay petals are preparing to burst 

 their dingy calyx, and looking like rubies in a rusty 

 setting. Such is the infiincy of Spirrea callosa. More 

 mature, the crimson petals begin to spread and reveal 

 their still more rosy centres ; and at last the ring of 

 «rimson stamens gradually unfolds and forms a glowing 

 halo round the centre. Should the reader be able to 

 receive all these things upon his mind's eye, he will 

 thea begin to know what Spiram callosa is like. — 

 lliough each of these tiny flowers does not occupy the 

 fifth part of an inch, yet their number most amply 

 compensates for their smallness. Each truss is full 2 

 inches across, and every branchlet bears about 3 such 

 trusses, of which that in the middle is full blown, 

 while the side ones are still closed up ; and at least a 

 month's supply of flowers of all ages is provided at 

 the time when the bush first breaks into blossom. 



Does not a plant like this deserve a niche in the 

 temple of Flora Juliana? 



Spiraja callosa is a native of Japan, whence it is said 

 to have been introduced by Mr. Fortune, through 

 Messrs. Standish & Noble. It derives its name from 

 the presence of a small red callosity seated on the end 

 of each of the numerous notches that border its leaves. 



CULTIVATION OF GEAPES IN THE OPEN AIK. 



Messrs. Editors: — "W. Livixgston, in the Farmer 

 of last month, asks for information on the culture of 

 the grape, and complains that communications on 

 this subject are not sufficiently definite, &c. I pre- 

 sume that he is, as /have been on the subject, grop- 

 ing somewhat in the dark, notwithstanding the many 

 writers I have consulted; and as I am now getting 

 to see lighc, I offer him and whoever else of your 

 readers it may concern, my experience, not presuming 

 that my method is perfect, but hoping and expecting 

 that some one or more of your correspondents or 

 readers will criticise my practice — a thing much eas- 

 ier of performance than the laying down of a definite 

 and intelligible system of culture. 



I will first preface, by remarking, that all grape 

 vines cultivated in the open air in this latitude, espe- 

 cially if the soil be rich and dry, incline naturally to 

 frow too thick for the production of much perlect 

 nit, unless allowed a full and free range on living 



trees — a thing impracticable to any great extent. 

 The first thing, then, after planting your vines on a 

 rich, deep, dry soil, with an aspect other than north- 

 ern, is to counteract this tendency, which is more eas- 

 ily done in the early training and pruning than after 

 the vines get large and stiff. 



In the spring of 1855, I purchased 30 vines of one 

 yeai's growth from the cuttings — one Clinton, one 

 Catawba, and the rest Isabella. I prepared my 

 ground by very deep plowing, and manured with 

 barn-yard manure, and dried muck buried in the bot- 

 toms of the furrows; planted my grapes eight feet 

 apart each way, and sowed the ground to carrots. 

 I paid little attention to the vines, but took good 

 care of the carrots, and had a fine crop. In harvest- 

 ing them, the same system was pursued — little atten- 

 tion paid to the vines. They were cut with the spade, 

 broken off, and trod into the ground, where they lay 

 untouched till the following spring of 1856. I thea 

 got cedar posts eight feet long; set them two feet in 

 the gfound, in the rows east and west, midway be- 

 tween the vines; put four inch boards or slats on the 

 top sixteen feet long, lapping them over each other 

 at the ends, and fastening them to the posts with a 

 four-inch carriage bolt and nut. Cedar does not hold 

 a nail very well, and I thought to myself, what a 

 pickle I should be in should the slats blow off while 

 loaded with grapes. The centres of the slats I fast> 

 ened with nails. I then put on three wires, so as to 

 make with the slat four spaces of about equal dis- 

 tances, cutting off the wires at every third post, (16 

 feet,) and twisting the ends around nails, fearing thai; 

 if I left the wires longer, the contraction in the win- 

 ter would draw the nails. On the centre posts I fas- 

 tened the wires by driving two nails so as to cross 

 each other. 



I then used a tight plow and cultivator between 

 the rows, and sowed two rows of beets and carrots 

 between each two rows of vines. I allowed three 

 branches to grow from each vine root, training one 

 perpendicularly and two horizontally; one each way 

 on the bottom wire to the posts, and then perpendic- 

 ularly, pulling off all the side branches as fast as they 

 got an inch or so Icng. For training horizontally on 

 the wires, I used cotton twine doubled, and tied 

 loosely; for training perpendicularly on the wires, I 

 found the twine would slip as the wind blew, and 

 wear off the twine, and injure the vine, and that by 

 first tying or noosing the twine to the wire, it would 

 rust in the next rain, and remain fast. For twining 

 up on the posts and horizontally on the slats, I used 

 strips of India rubber cloth, obtained from the scraps 

 at the carriage-makers, (bits of leather from the shoe 

 or harness makers will do.) and nailed them with 12 

 or 14 ounce tacks. The vines mostly reached the 

 slat, and were turned horizontally a few inches, se- 

 curely fastened and cut off. This was the end of this 

 year's work with the vines. They remained on the 

 trellises, and none of them were injured, notwithstand- 

 ing the severe weather — mercury 2 to 22° below zero 

 for two or three weeks in January. I should add 

 that on first planting the vines, I planted a thick row 

 of honey locust seed across the west end of the 

 vineyard for a screen to break the wind. They are 

 not yet any protection, but are growing finely, and 

 have stood the winters without the least injury. They 

 do not grow as fast as the Osage orange, but, in my 

 opinion, are decidedly preferable for a hedge fence. I 

 think they will not throw up suckers on plowing near 



